Authorities in Jalisco, Mexico, recently seized this tricked-out 2011 Ford F-350 Super Duty truck, above, that had been transformed by drug gang members into an obviously DIY armored vehicle. The steel-plated "Z Monster," as the truck was called, could fit 20 men and was outfitted with a rotating machine gun turret.

Drug gangs are crafting armored "narcotanks" in order to battle the Mexican military--and each other. Security forces complain they're battling gangs that are better armed than they are. In Colombia, gangs have been caught using homemade submarines, and other cartels use ultra-light airplanes to transport drugs to the United States without grabbing the attention of the Border Patrol